Mara Angnakak
Mara Angnakak is a practitioner who has been in Jacob's Bell for possibly the longest. She's been there since before the colonist came and settled down the lands. She is noted to straddle the line between Other and Human, having at least centuries of limited knowledge and experience because she was only able to teach herself what she knew. It is suspected that she may be illiterate, but not confirmed. An offhand comment by Maggie Holt suggests that she may occasionally take people who wonder into her woodlands and use them to maintain her youth, and later revealed she switches bodies with her own children. Roselyn notes she was around before the Algonquins, which was more than 2000 years old. Mara herself states her parents came across in reed rafts from the west and she'd done the same ritual for more than nine million days, at least 24,657 years. Appearance She appears as nothing more than middle-aged aboriginal woman to the untrained eye. She can alter her appearance to that of a withered old woman or a twelve-year old girl as well. It is thought to be a result of her reason for her long life, body-swapping with her children. Personality Mara is noted in the notes left behind by Rose Thorburn Senior to be reserved but holding an extreme amount of hatred for the rest of the practitioners in Jacob's Bell. To this end no one tries to sit next to her during the meeting. She has no love of anyone who is white, but in the past had nurtured many native people with her knowledge, leading to the rise of their communities. Having had tens of thousands of years to live she does so in a ritual of activity, leaving her mindset in itself grounded in the old ways from which she was born in. Gain, loss, love, fairness, right, rights, things of that nature she finds are recent inventions younger than her, and she considers herself to be humanity distilled, without culture or ideas to pollute and weaken her. She's articulate whens he speaks, but she seems more comfortable when the lines of enemyship are drawn. She is endlessly patient and does not seek company, seeing loneliness as a luxury. History Mara first appeared in the story after Molly Walker had died, due to a fail-safe that showed the majority of the major parties in Jacob's Bell to Blake Thorburn while he slept. She later appeared during Blake's first council meeting. Signatures Maggie Holt came to her home, where Mara appeared as a chained little girl and tested Maggie to see if she would free Mara from her chain. Maggie refuses by putting her identity together, with Mara stating she would have been compost if she had tried and then telling her they wouldn't deal. She arrived as Maggie was claiming a new name, Mags, and originally planned to oppose her. When Mags stated that what she was doing was the harder path and she would suffer more because of it, Mara decried 'no contest' in allowing her to form it. Null She appeared in the council meeting where they were determining who would participate as a competitor for the position of Lord, with her remaining out of it. She seemed to recognize James Corvidae. Sine Die She appears in the form of a thirteen-year old girl in the forest, trimming the trees as Blake's group arrives. She then confronts them on the fact that they have intruded on her lands, confirming that she would not have allowed them to enter or come if asked by Mags, the Ambassador. Blake refuses her offer of killing one so that another may go, but when a conflict started Rose appeared and tried to shoot her only for her to dodge the bullet. She then gives a member of the Knights of the Basement who was close to death a heart attack and planned on killing another person with a touch, utilizing the rule of three to enable her to kill with a word after. To that end she killed Corvidae to break him of his bindings and then summoned him again, trying to trick Blake until he realized the trap and used the Hyena to finish the Corvidae off for good and take her hostage. They put her in a circle and bind her, and Blake explains that he's going to ask her questions and swear an oath, knowing that she'd lie over and over until she was powerless. While she made offers otherwise, they were insistent and her forest started to collapse around her every time she lied until she confessed that it was Johannes making the town sink and pointed out that by wasting their time with her he has a clear shot at the Hillglades House. It was after this that she mentions a deal would be made where everyone got what they wanted, only for it to be lesser, after seeing her house burned down. Abilities Mara is a Blood Hag, a practitioner who has been around for an extended period of time with both magic and Other abilities at her disposal. Her knowledge is vast due to her age, and while not clearly defined so far she had demonstrated: * Avian Taming: Mara has tamed most of the turkey vultures and crows in the woods surrounding her. This isn't a magical ability, but the result of taming them over a long period of time. * Domain Holder: The woodlands around Jacob's Bell are hers in a way few people can claim, having been there for thousands of years. The spirits within it are also within her power and will side with her under most circumstances. * '''Soul Manipulation: '''Crone Mara switches bodies with her own children to extend her life, placing the souls into dolls after her previous body dies. She can also ward away the spirits that carry the dead off, leaving people's souls to rot in their bodies. Trivia *Crone Mara's character has many traits with Baba Yaga. Category:Characters Category:Practitioners